<p>I've been accepted into schools such as Boston University, Ohio State, and Penn State but I really want to go to a Californian school. Therefore I'm considering rejecting the other 4 year institutions and going to a local Californian community college instead. From there I'm hoping to be able to transfer into either Berkeley or UCLA. From what I understand the transfer process is fairly easy for a Californian CC student provided that you reached the GPA requirements. However, my main concern is that this might affect my acceptance into a good graduate school. I really want to be able to apply for schools such as Columbia or Stanford for graduate school and am worried that the fact that I went to a CC would affect their decisions even if I did well at Berkeley or UCLA the last two years. Anyone have any ideas?</p>
<p>You will find the answer to this question and many more really common ones in the sticky thread labeled graduate admissions 101.</p>
<p>why not go to one of the universities you were already accepted to, and then transfer to a UC school after the first or second year? it would save you the community college credits. unless there’s some reason other than the quality of your education that makes you want to live in cali.</p>
<p>In my experience, this will not affect your application at all, provided that you maintain a high GPA at Berkeley or UCLA after your transfer. Keep in mind though that the competition will be much tougher after you transfer. In community college, you’re competing with foreign students and returning students who have been out of school for years, and getting As is very easy. At Berkeley or UCLA, you will be competing with very motivated and hard-working kids. Beating the curve will require a lot more effort on your part. Several people who were in community college with me had 4.0’s and then dropped to a 3.0 or less at UCLA. If you work hard though, it’s possible to remain competitive after transfer. Of course, grad school admission is not all about GPA, but if you go to community college, make sure you don’t get used to having it easy, and you should be fine. Also, you should become involved in research as soon as you hear of your admission to the 4-year college (if not before) to ensure that you have a good 2 years of research experience before starting grad school.</p>
<p>Hmm. I went to a community college and a small liberal arts school before I transferred again to Columbia. I’m headed to Brown in the fall for a PhD. My likely advisor, in his email informing me, commented that the “smaller schools” I attended made their decision more difficult. That said, I got in. Make of that what you will. </p>
<p>It should be said that I spent a summer doing research at Stanford, and another with NASA. This experience, and the enthusiasm/knowledge I displayed to the aforementioned faculty member probably carried much more weight than my undergraduate schools, grades and GRE score. But those were expected struts to the research/personality, and probably necessary conditions.</p>